


Plucking Feathers

by Paris_The_Lazy_Writer



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Basically my introduction of a new character, Gen, Graphic Descriptions of the Dead, This is a complete piece for now, Violent, Young Justice universe, also how Jason died, may continue as a series of works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:48:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28610118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paris_The_Lazy_Writer/pseuds/Paris_The_Lazy_Writer
Summary: Jason has been missing for two weeks, and Veronica has decided that it is officially an emergency. Going back to a place he showed her once, she joins the team, hoping to find their Robin. They are much too late.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Jason Todd/Original Character(s)





	Plucking Feathers

**Author's Note:**

> This is my take on inserting a character, but also how Jason died in this universe. The team at this point consists of everyone as of the end of season one.  
> It gets pretty graphic, so you've been warned, like three times now. Please take said warning to heart.

“What’s this?”

“A secret hideout,” Jason grinned and held his hand out to show off the decrepit telephone booth that still read “OUT OF ORDER” across its doors.

“Wow. Extra fancy. No wonder Batman hasn't been caught yet.”

“Hey, it’s better than that, and thanks to some pretty good hacking skills from a not so shitty teacher, I can get you full access.”

When the computer came out of the old phone housing, she was surprised, and after twenty minutes of screen taps and Jason’s telltale humming as he focused, a bright light flashed, and they stood in a massive hangar. There were several doors with different vehicles, from motorcycles to a jeep, to a big red ship of some kind. Each one was positioned to leave at a moment's notice.

“This is Mount Justice, the hideout the other sidekicks and I have been using. Cool right?”

“Uh, am I going to get in trouble for being here?”

There was an eerie silence to the bright chamber, as if it was waiting for its true residents to show up and start demanding answers.

“Nope, because I buried your access codes under a blanket hidden in plain sight. If you ever get stuck in some extra bad situation, just radio, and come straight here. Use the code Blackbird A-99 and it will grant you access to Mount Justice, or any other zeta really.”

“And you’re showing me this because?”

“Uh… I’m kinda leaving for a while. Long mission, lots of legwork… it’s pretty intense, but I should be back within a week.”

_“Should?”_

“Like I said, it’s uh…”

“It’s a suicide mission, isn’t it?”

“No.. No. Only half that dangerous. Bats still won’t send me on anything that might get us really hurt, this is just… getting my feet wet.”

Veronica shook her head, then pulled Jason into a tight hug.

At first, he resisted, but Veronica just held him tighter, threatening to break his ribs.

Jason hugged her back after a moment, and she huffed, “you come back alive you idiot, or _I’ll_ kill you.”

He’d come back from that mission three days late. He had a broken right hand, and a pretty rough concussion, but he was alive.

That was six months ago. This time, he’d been gone for two weeks. Robin was not out with the Bat, and nobody had seen the kid since he was last sighted at GCPD with the Bat, and Commissioner Gordon a week and a half before.

This time, she wasn’t waiting for him to come back on his own.

“Authorization, Robin - B13, Blackbird -A99.”

The computer’s announcement of her arrival was annoying, but attention grabbing enough. She was greeted by a group of teens not much older than her, all looking particularly angry.

“Who are you?” "Where's Robin?" "Why do you know his codes?"

There were enough people and questions to make her head hurt, and before she could draw her knife and try to be intimidating Kid Flash had her picked up by the collar. The look on his face almost dared her to do something stupid.

“Robin called me Blackbird. Since nobody in Gotham can tell me where he is, I decided that it was an emergency. Where is he?”

Blackbird tried to keep her cool, but Kid Flash did not like her answer. Nobody seemed to like it actually, but she was preoccupied by her toes only barely brushing the ground and the green eyes trying to bore through her skull.

“Bullshit. How did you get his codes?" Kid Flash ground his teeth and she decided that he was definitely more intimidating than she ever could be.

“He gave them to me,” she put her hands up, “put me down and check the history, I’ve been here before.”

Her saving grace was when Nightwing announced that she was telling the truth.  
“August, 2008, but how, better yet, why?”

Kid Flash dropped her, but she managed to land on her feet and straightened out her jacket, “because we’re friends. Have been since before he was Robin. He made me promise to only use it in case of an emergency. He's been gone too long, so here I am. Where is he?”

The people around her all seemed to deflate, and started looking around at each other, probably deciding whether or not to trust her. It almost looked like a whole conversation, just... without words.

Nightwing finally uncrossed his arms, “we don’t know either…. He was last seen kidnapped by Joker. Batman is looking for him now, and we were in the middle of a locator spell, looking for a good taglock in particular.”

Blackbird glanced around the hangar, “taglock? I'm surprised there isn't anything here, he loves this place.”

“No, not here,” Nightwing narrowed his eyes, “do you know of anything that would work best? It would have a strong emotional attachment.”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged and drew her knife, “he gave this to me a long time ago, but… it was his for a long time before then."

Everyone jumped into a fighting stance, but she held up her other hand before she spun the weapon around and offered the handle to Zatanna. 

“He gave me that when we were eleven. He… promised me that it brought him luck, and it would bring me luck too.”

“It could work. Might give us two locations, but as long as we know yours, we'll know which one is his," Zatanna studied it carefully, then glanced at Nightwing.

Blackbird nodded, “don’t let me hold you up, we have to find him. I have a really bad feeling.”

“You guys go take care of it, I’ll keep Blackbird here,” Nightwing nodded to the rest of them, then turned back to her.

“We have some catching up to do.”

As soon as everyone else was gone, Nightwing sized her up, then put his hands on his hips, “what’s his name, then, if you’re so close?”

“Jason Peter Todd.”

“Mhm… and you met where?”

“School,” she rolled her eyes beneath the helmet, “we went to school together, and one night, ran into each other on the streets. Been best friends ever since we shared a dumpster pizza. Who is he to you?”

“Some punk stealing tires off the Batmobile, except that punk is my little brother. Does a damn good job at being Robin, he managed to keep you a secret even though he planted information in the system about you. He made sure it would show that he planted it too.”

“What makes you say that?”

Nightwing pulled up the file, which was titled Security.

“There isn’t technically any security to the zetas. You either have a positive scan or you don’t. He snuck this in without anyone noticing or questioning. The file reads ‘literal queen of Gotham’s streets, the Blackbird only flies is she’d got a reason to go. Don’t be a Dickhead. She’s on the list.' Sound familiar?”

“Christ that is so Jason, isn’t it?”

“Little Jaybird,” he huffed, “he’s mentioned you once or twice I think. Veronica, right?”

“And you're absolutely the detective he says you are. That's me, in the flesh. Though he didn’t give up your name, or Batman’s.”

“He’s good at what he does.”

Blackbird grinned, “yeah he is, jeez, I remember the night he boosted the batmobile. Wouldn’t let me help because he thought we’d get caught, but couldn’t pass up the challenge. I sat waiting for him for hours until he came back all excited because Batman had actually liked him. He went on until dawn about how he had the chance to train under him, to be Robin. It was like he’d won the lottery.”

“And what did you think?”

“I thought that if anything could make him smile that big again, I’d move heaven and earth to give it to him,” she smiled beneath the helmet as she remembered the look on his face. 

“You love him don’t you?” Nightwing smiled and put an arm around her shoulders.

Blackbird shook herself from the stupor, flabbergasted by the accusation.

“What? No… I….” “Uh huh. We tease him about his crush on Veronica all the time, he thinks you’re cute with helmet hair.”

“What?”

“Oh yeah, it’s hilarious how red he turns whenever anyone mentions it. As red as KF’s hair, actually.”

Veronica was grateful that the helmet hid her face, because she was probably matching Kf’s hair too.

"Hey, we'll find him soon enough, and I'll kick his ass for not introducing us sooner," Nightwing offered a polite smile.

Blackbird smiled back, but there was a pit in her stomach that didn't leave her convinced.

“We found him, let’s move,” Zatanna ran back to the hangar, the rest of the team with her.

“I’m coming too,” Veronica huffed, “it was my knife that found him afterall.”

“I can live with that, Aqualad?” Nightwing’s casual acceptance of it was enough for the rest of the team, and they piled into the bioship before taking the zeta to Gotham and heading for Old Town.

“He’s in Old Town?” Blackbird glanced out the window and tried to hide her fear.

That was Joker territory at the moment. And while he'd been taken by Joker, she had hope he'd gotten away by then.

“This building," Miss Martian opened up a hole in the base of the ship and produced a line for everyone.

Blackbird ignored whatever instructions Nightwing was giving and dove down to the building, shooting off a grappling hook and swinging through an already busted window. The same one she'd climbed through weeks ago with Jason in tow.

The rest of the team was quick to follow her.

“How did you see that from above?” Nightwing narrowed his eyes.

“Been here before... Everyone be careful, this block was slated for demolition a week ago. This building in particular is pretty rough. Main floor has a few squatters.”

Blackbird followed Nightwing around, hoping to get a read on him as they moved from room to room, searching for Jason systematically.

Each room held only dust and broken furniture, no evidence of anyone except for the old foot prints in the dust from her adventure with Jason just before he'd disappeared.

Suddenly, he stopped, then waved Blackbird to follow, “they found him, upstairs.”

“Is he…”

“No...” Nightwing's voice was very small, and for the first time since meeting him, she could see that he too was not much older than she and Jason were, they were just kids, and this was not good news.

Upstairs, everyone had grouped up, and Nightwing quickly pushed Artemis out of the way. Immediately picking up a limp, lifeless body.

Blackbird froze. Blood was everywhere. And Jason was pale, and very, very dead. Blood pooled in the back of his hands, and his lips were swollen blue. Barely red bruises around his neck, and rope still tied around his feet. There were rips and tears and cuts all over him, his uniform too. Based on the splatters on the walls, this was where Joker had killed him.

“He’s…. He’s dead,” Artemis's whisper echoed in the room, stirring Blackbird from her initial shock.

Blackbird took a hesitant step forward, “he… he can’t be dead.”

Slowly, she pulled her helmet off, dropping it to the floor before kneeling by Nightwing, who was definitely crying as much as she was.

“No…. no… He was coming back. He promised he was coming back….” she reached out, taking his hand in hers, the cool, swollen flesh uncomfortable and foreign as she reached up to push his bangs off his face. Slowly, gently, she peeled back the mask, his bright eyes already fogged over, haunting.

“Jaybird,” Nightwing whimpered, and Zatanna put an arm around him as the entire team gathered in close.

“Jason….” Blackbird choked on a sob and held his face, gently wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, “you promised… promised me we would go to homecoming, and that one day… we’d get out of this place…. And….”

She was surprised when Nightwing pulled her into a hug, when he closed Jason's eyes and tilted the body so that Jason's mouth stayed shut. He didn't look so... daunting that way, and Blackbird almost thanked him out loud for offering a better last image, but she knew it wasn't just for her.

Bruce Wayne picked her up off the streets real fast after that night. Made sure she was at the funeral, gave her the promise of somewhere to go if the streets of Gotham were too much.

She would probably never take that offer.

It wasn’t until she ran into Nightwing mid-interrogation that she understood how deep everyone’s grief had been. Understood how many people missed him like she did.

“What are you doing?” Nightwing didn’t sound angry, just… annoyed.

“My job,” she huffed, then turned her focus back to her captive, “well? Where is he?”

“Old Town, six hundred Old-Main.”

“Now that wasn’t so hard was it?” She pulled a rag from her coat, then knocked him out with chloroform before turning her attention back to Nightwing.

“Well, you coming or what?” She gestured to the window they had both entered the warehouse through and put a hand on her hip, the knife they'd used to locate Jason's body still there, still sheathed, but waiting.

Nightwing got the message. The two moved silently across town, she'd learned the silent language of a bat from Jason, and Nightwing had been his teacher, so it was almost too easy.

When they found Joker, he was celebrating, and for the first time ever, Blackbird wondered what it would be like to crush a beating heart with her fist.

Nightwing didn’t give her time to plan.

They burst in through the windows, and before any of Joker’s men knew what hit them, they were down. A batarang here, a throwing knife there, a well placed kick and blood splattering through teeth, or her brass knuckles slamming heads to the floor. Most were probably never getting up again.

“Oh look, the bat’s other little brats. This week just gets..."  
Blackbird threw a knife that planted in Joker’s eye, splattering blood across the wall beside him. It wasn't deep enough to kill him, but enough to get a point across. Whatever the clown had to say was not going to help him. That night was one for reckoning.

“Ooh… you’re ungrateful.” Joker's voice wasn't as smooth as it once had been.

“And you're dead,” Blackbird pulled out another knife, “I exist _outside_ the family. _And it’s rules_.” Joker’s remaining eye widened in what was probably terror and recognition.

Nightwing began the onslaught, snapping his arm, beating a hip out of socket, sending teeth across the floor, he beat the shit out of the clown before dangling him out the window by his already broken ankle.

“No…No, no, no don’t!”

Nightwing let go, and they watched Joker fall eight stories as Blackbird jumped out the window after him.

Down in the alley, Joker gasped between little laughs. Giggles really.

"You kids, really know how to upstage the Big Bad Bat, don't you?"

“Think he’s had enough?” Blackbird crouched beside him, blood pooling at her feet as it leaked from somewhere beneath their victim.

“No,” Nightwing growled.

“Yes,” Joker muttered, "yes he has."

Blackbird slashed her knife across his chest, creating a red x-stain on his shirt before she put her knee on his chest. His ribs crunched beneath her weight and he let out the first and only scream.

Nightwing put a hand on her shoulder, clearly a sign to stop, but Blackbird wasn't done.

“This is for every other kid you’ve killed on these streets,” Blackbird spat in his face.

"And this is for Robin, and for me." She plunged her knife deep into his neck, watching him splutter and gurgle, eyes wide, and lips turning blue beneath the smudged red lipstick. In less than a minute, he'd drowned in his own blood.

“Get out of here," Blackbird muttered as she wiped her knife clean on Joker's jacket, "while you still can."

"I know he was a maniac, but you.... you shouldn't have killed him. He would have been in prison, where he could rot for years."

"Gotham gives and Gotham takes. You need to go. I’ll deal with it," she turned to glare at him through the visor.

Nightwing started to protest, started to clench his fist, but he gave up before he'd even begun to argue. “How?”

“The same way any body in Gotham gets handled. A vulture cleans it up.” She glared at the corpse, then back at Nightwing.

He didn’t stay around to ask what exactly she meant.

Two weeks later, when a new vigilante going by Vulture began sweeping through Gotham, he didn't quite reach out, but he didn't let Batman go to rough on her either. Revenge would remain their secret until they too were sent to the grave.


End file.
